Ancient China: The Degeneration of the State and the Critical Question

Having gorged ourselves on enough theory, let us return now to the previous discussion.

A small recap (with pictures!).   I had said previously that the prevailing norms of a society (structure, religious values, moral code, etc.) has an effect on the types of questions pondered by that civilization - which includes questions that we would identify today as being part of the domain of Science.

So we want to ask:  What happened when this....

....became this...

The first map shows the borders of the later half of the Zhou dynasty, when the Zhou kings were in decline. 

A Side Note: Notice the size of the actual Zhou State in comparison to the rest of China as it exists today.

The second map shows the Spring and Autumn Era, when the veneer of Zhou kingship is at its breaking point.   Most of the states that you see on the map: Qin, Qu, Wu, Jin, Yan, Qi, Lu, etc. were at this times openly maneuvering against one another while still paying lip services to the Zhou King.

To make things simple, think of the following:

Map 1: Unified Polity.

Map 2: Warring States competing for Supremacy.


How we got from Map 1 to Map 2 was a rather large time interval wherein the people of Ancient China enjoyed a rather lengthy period of peace and prosperity due to the Zhou System.

The System, fengjian in Chinese, has often been compared to Medieval Feudalism in Western Europe.  Its manner of operation would work something like this.

                 1.) The Zhou State either conquers or incorporates a new piece of territory.
                
                 2.) In order to bring the area under control, the Zhou king delegates authority to an individual
                      who shall rule over this piece of territory in his name.

                 3.) The Vassals in most cases were kinsmen, who owed loyalty to the ruling house based on a
                       mix of history and a strong religious sentiment about the role of kingship. [See previous
                       blogpost regarding Tian.]

                       Even vassals who were not related by blood, such as local power-holders who were
                       voluntarily incorporated into the Zhou State, owed fealty to the Zhou King as they were
                       beneficiaries of the system.

                       In essence the Vassals, whatever their origin, were as Benjamin Schwartz stated "the fence
                       and protecting wall of the Zhou dynasty."

 Now i'm sure this all sounds very familiar to those who understood how European Feudalism operated, except there are two small points that need to be raised about differences.

• The Zhou King is the apex of political and religious life.   

          Given the manner in which the Zhou Kings justified their rule (personal relationship with Heaven, a
          transcendent power), the Zhou Kings were the ultimate authorities within Ancient China.  The
          political wrangling between the Church and various States did not exist here.  The Zhou King was
          both Monarch and Pope combined.

• There is a Proto-Bureaucratic element within the Fengjian System.

          The rise of Bureaucracy in the West came with the advent of the modern Nation-State.   A type of
          "bureaucracy" was already forming within the Chinese feudal systems revolving around the dictates of
          the Zhou King's court.    This was not a meritocracy however, as kinsmen were usually appointed to
          positions.  The offices and their portfolios were quite vague and often fluctuated.


So, what's the takeaway?    Here's a hint, think a Chinese Peasant.

During the Era of Map 1 - what does Mr. Peasant see?    Yeah sure, this isn't a democratic society where political leaders are often competing to keep you happy, but for the time period the Zhou State seems perfect.  

There is Order.  Crimes are Punished.  You can go about the business of living, acquiring wealth, and getting that 4th or 5th wife if you are lucky.

Best of all, the Supreme Ruler, the Guy who Commands your Local Ruler, he's the Best Friend of God (or the Universe).   His State encompasses the Known World.   His moral and ritual actions keep humanity as a whole in tune with the Cosmos.

And then we hit the Era of Map 2 - and the whole system Crashes and Burns.

That Order which your father and father's father, etc. lived under just got thrown out the window.

That State which you believed wasn't some kind of contrivance of Man but was as natural as a blue sky or the rocky ground, has fallen apart.

What do you do?

Well if you are a Chinese Peasant, you are probably suffering greatly at this time period.  That or you were dead.

But if you are a member of that lower-rank of nobles who are looking at their superiors waste resources and lives (perhaps even your own if you aren't too careful), then you may start to wonder.

And with wondering comes the Critical Question -  What is the Dao?

Dao being Chinese for "The Way."  So it could be asked, "What is the Way?"

As in "What is the Way that we can Fix things?"

Where is the Road Back toward Map 1, when life was relatively Better.

Heck, some start to argue for the Road Back to the time Before Map 1, even before the Shang Dynasty which the Zhou replaced.  Some wished to find a way to return to the days of the Ancient Sage Kings who ruled without avarice or force.

So a political crisis serves to jumpstart Chinese philosophy with that critical question.  

But that question, What is the Dao?, will serve to ignite speculation in a variety of different fields.    The Search for the Way will take thinkers well beyond the boundaries of politics and ethical philosophy as contemplation turns to the Natural World in the hopes of finding a solution.

And here lies the beginning of Chinese science.

Foundations: And Finally..Religion and Science in Different Cultures

Since the early debates about Evolution in the 1990s and the tragic circumstances of 9/11, its rather safe to say that if you've live somewhere in the Western world you have undoubtedly tripped over the great debate about Religion's relationship to Science.

I would really really love to avoid all the polemics involved in that debate, often dubbed by professional historians of science as the "warfare thesis."  Mainly because, I don't really find the whole exercise to be intellectually fruitful or stimulating.

But, for the purposes of this blog, we need to address the differences in the relationship of Religion and Science between the cultures we are investigating.

1.) The great big "firewall" that exists between science and religion/spirituality in the West does not exist in Asia. 

We should recognize that the reason we divide up our mental activities into categories such as "religion" or "philosophy" or "science" in the first place is a direct outcome of the trajectory of Western civilization.   The advent of Christianity in the West resulted in a predominate religious institution, the Catholic Church, whose internal hierarchy and authority was nearly autonomous from the various states it resided in.   That separation of religious and civil concerns was further accelerated by the secularization of the West.



Long Story Short:  Religion has slowly fallen out of orbit with the rest of the other academic disciplines or fields of knowledge so that it is considered merely a private concern.

Contrast this for a moment with the Chinese experience, where religious institutions were tied to and regulated by the state.  In essence, religious establishments and the issues they specialized in where never considered "separate" or autonomous from the State.

2.) Religion, as a category of thought, was not demarcated as such in the traditional civilizations of China and India.

We got the same exact problem with chopping up religion in these cultures that we did with trying to chop up what could be considered as science in these places.   Their historical experiences simply did not differentiate these subjects in the manner in which we did.

Which leads to the interesting situation where Metaphysical Ideas are shared in common between science, philosophy, and religion in historical India and China. 

I would argue that this is probably one of the reasons why many people tend to look upon Asian philosophy and spirituality as being holistic.   You can derive a type of Organic Interlocking view of the world where disparate disciplines seem to have underlying connections with one another.

Follow the chain of logic:

1.) Philosophy in Asia, regardless of its speculative nature, had the conduct of human life as its  ultimate concern.

2.) Conduct generally amounted to following a Metaphysical Idea, like Dharma or the Dao, which would make one ethically good and happy.

3.) The reason why it would make one ethically good and happy, is because following the Dharma or Dao would essentially mean your life is in accord with the natural patterns of the universe.

4.) Consequently the reverse is true.   Failing to follow these ethical rules not only causes disruption or social embarrassment, it threatens the natural order.

As one can guess, this is quite different from the manner in which the West approaches the same type of concerns and issues.  Modern man generally denies that there is a connection between ethics and the structure of the universe.   One is "made up" and the other is "real."


Those who reject this disjunction between Man and the Universe have, since the 1960s, generally "gone East" in search of wisdom that might reconnect the two.  However, they did so on their own terms.
Take for example the fact that Indian and Chinese spirituality is often associated with modern counterculture.   Yet the hedonistic tendencies of that counterculture do not show up in the traditional sources.

Whereas the West is given over to Protest and Rebellion, the East tends to advocate a Withdrawal from the World.  That links back into the whole "Follow the Natural Order" business.

The answer to social problems and dilemmas in classical India or China were not necessarily greeted by calls for social change (which itself is a big shot in the arm toward innovation and scientific development).   Rather the solution was thought to be in a return to the pre-established order.

Extol exemplary behavior, make sure Ritual Observances were not neglected, and punish those who violated social roles or propriety.


If not, then understand that you have gone against Nature itself.   Prepare to suffer the Wrath of Heaven.

Foundations: Metaphysics and Cross-Cultural Issues

There are unique issues to studying the history of science in Asia and drawing comparisons with the West, namely that there is no self-conscious category within either India or China that corresponds to the notion of modern science or even natural philosophy.

So our first order of business is to figure out what cultural elements or techniques within traditional Chinese and Indian civilization can overlap with our current notions of science.  

We need to be careful here for a second - remember that concern I brought up in a previous blogpost about "cherry-picking" results?   Our goal isn't just to use the current body of scientific knowledge as a standard and rifling through history to see what these ancient peoples got right.   Trust me, it would probably be a very short exercise.

Rather what we need to do is correlate intellectual and practical activities between civilizations. 
Sometimes its going to be very easy to do that.  Heck, I can do that for you right now.  How about: 

Modern Biomedicine vs. Traditional Chinese Medicine vs. Ayurveda.

Western Astronomy vs. Chinese Astronomy vs. Indian Astronomy

Particle Physics vs. Yin/Yang Dualism vs.  the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta

Yeah - i know what your thinking.  "Wait!!  The Last one doesn't sound right!"   Comparing medicine and astronomy across cultures seems a lot more intuitive because they are concrete practices that informed by theoretical ideas.

It is a lot harder to compare the theoretical ideas themselves with each other.

But I believe this highlights a point that I am yet again going to stress to you.  

Remember, how did we define Science again?   Instead of a wordy definition, let's just use a quick breakdown.
    1.) Focus = External World
    2.) Approach = Systematic (collect knowledge, generate hypothesis)
    3.) Development = Self-Corrective (Modify or kick out older theories when they fail)
    4.) Method = Experimentation (in order to accomplish 3)
As you may recall from the previous blogpost, Number 4 is the kicker.   Without the notion of empirical investigation, we can't really validate what we claim.

ie:  I can come up with a theory in the field of Particle Physics as to how matter (and therefore the universe) is constructed, but it won't be accepted as true until I can demonstrate it via a set of experiments.

Contrast this with the notions of Yin/Yang Dualism and Advaita Vedanta, which incidentally inform some practices within traditional Medicine and Astronomy in China and India.

Scientific statements, by their nature, can be disproven.   These two ideas can't - they are metaphysical.   

LET ME BE EMINENTLY CLEAR ABOUT THIS - i am not saying that Yin/Yang Dualism and Advaita Vedanta are wrong or right for that matter.   Rather, because they are metaphysical propositions which deal with what is beyond direct experience they cannot be empirically verified or falsified.

Metaphysical statements tend to be the products of pure thought and therefore cannot be considered scientific.  I can't run an experiment and prove to you the existence of Chi or Yin/Yang.

Now for the theoretician and historian, this is all just fascinating and perfectly fine.  The comparative approach we are undertaking will simply bring into focus why things developed differently.

But for those interested in the practical application of disciplines informed by these concepts, a standard reaction would probably go something like... "WTF!?   Why are people even engaging in these types of practices?  Why do they do Tai Chi or use Ayurveda and TCM if they can't prove it scientifically?  Shouldn't we just ban all of these outdated practices and be done with it?"

Stop.  Right.  There.

Think on the following:

    1.) I point to the sky and say it is blue because it is made of Smurfs.
                  

  You know, Smurfs. - La la la la la la.   etc.

    2.) You say i'm crazy, because Smurfs do not exist.

    3.) But does that make the sky any less Blue?

 Of course not - my explanation is wrong but the Phenomena is still verifiable.   And as such we can Test that.

Again, I should note and beat into your head that not once during this whole blogpost have I actually disproven any of these metaphysical concepts.   Not once.

However, even if you are skeptical about these things, you don't have to "buy into" Chi or the Three Gunas to accept the validity of say certain methods or formulas in Chinese Medicine.    You can still focus on Outcomes through testing.

A further thought of the systematic thinkers amongst you.

Does a system of interpretation necessarily need to be correct in order to derive useful results?

Could a set of ideas retain a form of internal logic or consistency within a practice?

Or to put it more plainly - Do all the assumptions in a body of knowledge need to be correct in order for it to "work?"

Foundations: Modern Science in Reverse - Natural Philosophy, Knowledge, and Know-How

In my last blogpost, I stated that we couldn't just examine the history of science by simply looking back at the past, picking out examples of technologies or methods that anticipate the modern discipline, and just rubber stamping our approval of it.

From a purely historical perspective, such an action would deny us a true picture of how people in previous times and eras conceived of the world they lived in.

Furthermore, for those of interested in making comparisons between the West and other civilizations' understanding and methods of investigating Nature, we would need to be cognizant of certain key ideas that may have existed in one culture but do not exist in another. 

With that in mind, I propose that we reverse engineer the Modern Natural Sciences, in order to comprehend the assumptions that lay behind this enterprise.

Moving backward in time......



1.) Although the accumulated body of knowledge which we call Science is ever-changing, the outlines and boundaries of the discipline we are familiar with were formed largely in the 19th century.

This was the period of time when the word scientist, a term coined by the philosopher William Whewell, entered into public discourse to identify a trained professional class who were paid to examine the natural world.  Consequently, this is also the era where the formal concept of peer review appears, which we can define as the repetition of experiments by colleagues in order to verify their results.  

At the heart of this field of study lays the scientific method, which is essentially the observation of natural phenomena through the use of controlled and repeatable experiments.

ie:  "I take this substance, i alter these conditions in its environment, i let it perform a given action.  The result is observed and measured."

It is the drive toward experimentation that is the defining characteristic of modern science.

Taking the results of our experiments, we then try to develop laws or generalized explanations of why this experiment produced these results.  The hope is to eventually develop a theory that generates predictions that can be tested.

However, this dependence on experimentation as the key ingredient to establish the veracity of theories was not always held to be the case.

2.) Prior to the rise of modern science, the central category for inquiry into the workings of Nature was a field of study called natural philosophy.  Although sharing a number of similarities, the manner in which Natural Philosophy organized man's understanding of Nature differs with the modern approach on a number of issues.  Two major points must be stressed.

Method - Instead of experimentation, natural philosophers generally preferred a much more speculative approach that made use of historical or anecdotal observations of empirical phenomena.  The philosophical tradition relied heavily on the authority of the Greek Philosopher Aristotle, who favored a type of deductive abstract reasoning instead of the inductive experimentalist method for deriving truths about the natural world.

Furthermore, Aristotle's theory on substances defined the basis for matter in terms of essential forms and qualities, which is quite different from our modern understanding of physical properties.

An Example:  Why is Snow white?

Modern Science - "Snow, which is a configuration of water molecules below a specific temperature, carries certain physical properties.  These properties are transmitted to the sensory organ of your eyes via light, which possess a specific type of behavior under normal circumstances.  The light stimulates receptors on your eyes which sends a signal to your brain via an optic nerve and which is interpreted as the color white."

Aristotlean - "Because Snow possess the Quality of Whiteness in it.   The Quality/Property/Attribute may be deemed essential - in other words it is an attribute that makes any entity or substance what it fundamentally, and without which it loses its identity."

As you can see, two very different ways of reasoning about a natural phenomenon.


3.)  Relationship to Technology - The other issue that needs to be pointed out, is that Natural Philosophy's relationship with technology is very different from Modern Science.   We often associate technological innovation with new discoveries or refinements of scientific principles.  

This was not always the case.   The theoretical "understanding" of the world (philosophy) was very much divided from the practical aspects/methods associated with technology.  

An example:  Does a farmer need to know biology, geology, and meteorology to grow crops?

Of course not - while those fields are quite helpful in the process and planning of farming, the theoretical knowledge does not equate with the practical know-how of growing crops.

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The Point of This Whole Blog

Think about this for a second.

When we are drawing comparisons between the ways people look at nature in different cultures, we need to be very carefully as to what we are in fact comparing.

We need to acknowledge that up until the 20th century, a vast swath of humanity lacked the conception of Modern Science. 

These civilizations may have had teachings or philosophies that approximate the Western conception of natural philosophy.   However, their starting assumptions about the way the Cosmos, Nature, and Man work are in fact different from the Western tradition.

But what we definitely know all civilizations had, was know-how/technology.  

So fields like Astronomy, Metallurgy, and Medicine exist in all of these places - except that they lacked a unifying framework.

Whereas we could group all these disciplines under the Natural Sciences, these indigenous cultures lack the category and theoretical underpinning to do just that.

   

Foundations: What IS Science?

So, let's jump to the heart of the matter - the whole point of the blog.

 Question 1: What IS Science?

Sounds like a simple question.  Although we all have an intuitive sense of what Science is, allow me to refer to the Oxford Companion's definition:

"Modern Science is a discovery as well as an invention.  It was a discovery that nature generally acts regularly enough to be described by laws and even by mathematics; and required invention to devise the techniques, abstractions, apparatus, and organization for exhibiting the regularities and securing their law-like descriptions."

Or to put it more plainly, Science is a systematic enterprise to investigate the natural world and form testable explanations and predictions about that world.  Usually this results in the creation of technologies and techniques that allow us to shape our environment - for better or worse.

But our definition of modern science, whether it refers to the accumulated body of knowledge or the methodology used, was not a timeless axiom.   Science as we understand it today, was an outcome of a centuries long process that involved continual shifts of mankind's perception and relationship with the natural world.

This presents a problem for those interested in either:

1.) History of Science and its development in Western Civilization.

2.) Comparison of Modern Science toward alternative understandings of the world from other Cultures.

Think about it this way - if we only label past historical practices (whether coming out of the West or another region), as "scientific" insofar as they reflect our modern understanding then all we're going to get is a distorted caricature of the beliefs of people in previous times.

To quote the historian David C. Lindbergh:

"Distortion would be inevitable because science has changed in content, form, method, and function.   We would not be responding to the past as it existed, but looking at the past filtered through a grid."

What Mr. Lindbergh is describing is "Whiggism," a type of historical lens which only concerns itself with developments in the past that lead directly to the current outcome.

Question 2:  Ok I get all that.  But, how does the point you raise feed into the other stated goal of comparing non-Western practices whose concerns overlaps with modern Science's focus on Nature?

Too often there are attempts to either conflate or disavow these different systems of thought or practices.

My approach is "simple" - let's just deconstruct the assumptions built into each viewpoint and see where they contrast.  

To do that in a comprehensive way, I've decided to adopt a historical view so we can see where those critical foundational differences popped up and why they did so in the first place.

However, I also know some of you could care less about why things turned out the way they did and you want to know how a concept like say Yin-Yang "works" or functions.  All I can tell those folks for now is to sit tight, as there will be future blogs that focus on the practical or applied portions of these concepts.   

Question 3: So, what now?

Many of you who have started to read my China blogposts are beginning to see how the ancient Chinese looked upon the world and humanity's place in it.  You are starting to see the pre-philosophical axioms and a priori cultural beliefs that held together the Chinese world order.

And next your going to see that intricate order crash into a brick wall.   From that wreckage, in the midst of that crisis will come what we know today as Chinese philosophy, a branch of which investigates the area we are interested - namely Nature.

But before we go any further with that, let's cover some important concepts that are necessary to understand before we attempt to do a comparison between Modern Science and the various metaphysical systems which it is often compared to.

Foundations: A Prologue

One of my friends who has been reading this blog from the start with great interest and enthusiasm made a comment to me recently that gave me pause regarding my blog posts (a long pause as you can probably guess).

The comment was simply, "Very interesting!  But what did the last few posts about ancient Chinese culture have to do with Chinese science?  Or the greater enterprise of comparative science and philosophy between the three cultures you've targeted?"

With that in mind, I felt it necessary to write a tighter theoretical framework for those who didn't want to lose the thread of the narrative.  For those who are simply interested in the tidbits I bring forth from philosophy, history of science, and the actual disciplines of the natural sciences you might want to skip the next few posts.   They will probably put you to sleep.

But for those seeking a scaffold or structure or at least a little insight into what will appear on this blog, you might want to pay some attention. 

So my stated goals are:

 1.) Understanding the history and development of the Natural Sciences in the West.  This would also imply figuring out all the political, social, cultural, theological, and philosophical inputs into what shaped our current understanding on how we investigate Nature.

 2.) Taking all of that in Number 1 and comparing it against alternative approaches to Nature found in two other great civilizations - India and China.   This also implies figuring out the major inputs cited above and how their assumptions differ from our own.

 3.)  Give special focus to the role of medicine in each of these societies, for the reasons I said in a blog post a while back.

Yeah - I know what you are thinking.  I'm trying to catch too many eggs in one basket.   But you see, the strange thing is that I do view all of these issues as being completely interconnected.  

To help folks along, I've decided to write a set of posts called "Foundations" - which will hopefully offer a road map to the reader for future posts.

As the great English writer John Donne wrote in his work Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, "No man is an Island, entire of himself, every man is a piece of the Continent."   So before launching into it, I would like to acknowledge the debt I owe to my teachers and scholars whose works I have oftened read and pondered on these matters.

If anything I write sounds halfway intelligible - praise them for I am merely a transmitter not an originator.

A Closer Look: Tian during the Zhou Dynasty

A Closer Look are a set of blogs for those who want to dig a little deeper into the concepts and ideas referred to in my other posts.

Usually when I blog, I try to avoid any sort of technical jargon or citations of work in order to convey the major points in the simplest language possible.  This is after all, supposed to be a "light and friendly" conversation.

But maybe my dear reader, your the type of person who would like to see some substantiated evidence for the things I blog about.   Maybe you'd like to see what the original sources had to say - if so, then A Closer Look is the right place for you.

Our topic today is "Tian" or Heaven and its role in the Zhou Society.  My last blog spoke of how Tian become a kind of organizing religious and political principle for the Zhou state and for successive dynasties in China.

The major shake-up from the previous world order: An objective type of morality is inserted into the workings of the Cosmos and the State.

Now this is not to say that prior to the Zhou kingdom, there was no moral code in ancient Chinese society.  Rather, the critical change was its objective and universal character which was upheld by a cosmic force - Tian. 

So how does Tian work?   Well let's take a look shall we.   I'd like to acknowledge the Chinese philosopher and translator Wing Tsit-Chan, whose passages from A Sourcebook on Chinese Philosophy I quote below.

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[Thus the Duke of Zhou said, "Prince Shih, Tian without pity, sent down ruin on the Yin (alternative name for the Shang) dynasty.  Yin having lost the Mandate of Heaven, we, the Zhou, have received it.  But I dare not say with certainty that our heritage will forever truly remain on the side of fortune.  If Tian renders sincere help, I do not dare say with certainty that the final end will result in misfortune.  Oh!  you have said, Prince, 'It depends on ourselves.'  I also dare not rest in the Mandate of the Lord on High, forever refraining from thinking of the awe-inspiring power of Tian.  At the same time, when the people do not complain, so long are there men [like you]!   If our successors should prove utterly unable to reverence Tian above and the people below, and so bring to an end the glory of their forefathers, could you, by remaining at home, be unaware of it?

The Mandate of Heaven is not easily [preserved].   Tian is hard to depend on.   Those who have lost the mandate did so because they could not practice and carry on the reverence and the brilliant virtue of their forefathers.   As for the present, it is not that I, a little one, have a way of correcting our king.  My way of leading him would be merely to make it possible to apply the glory of the forefathers to our young king.

The Duke of Zhou also said, "Tian is not to be trusted.  My way is simply to continue and extend the virtue of our peace-established king, and Heaven will not have occasion to remove the mandate received by King Wen...."]

- from the Book of Documents, "Prince Shih"

The Duke of Zhou, considered to be the model moral exemplar of the sage-adviser to a king, was the brother of King Wu, the man who brought down the Shang.  After King Wu had shuffled off his mortal coil, the Duke of Zhou became regent on behalf of the young Prince and successfully put down a revolt from members of the House of Shang.  The Duke is often praised for his righteous character by Chinese historians, especially because he could have easily made himself King of the Zhou while his nephew was still in his infancy.

While we as moderns can easily be cynical about the Mandate as a rationalization for rulership, it might help us to remember that this belief was not a mere political ploy.   There was an intrinsic faith in this idea that was  bound to the preceding religious culture of the Zhou.

Tian had granted them the Mandate.    And Tian could easily take it away.

This is what the Duke of Zhou means by saying, "Tian is not to be trusted."   The phrase isn't implying that Tian is false or unpredictable, rather that Prince Shih cannot just rely on Tian to rubber-stamp the actions of the dynasty.   It isn't some ancestral spirit that is going to bend the rules for the sake of its descendants.

[They (the Shang) became subject to the Zhou.

Heaven's Mandate is not constant.

The officers of the Shang were fine and alert.

They assist at the libation in our capital.

In their assisting in the libation,

They always wear skirted robes and close caps (peculiar to the Shang).

Oh, you promoted servants of the king,

Don't mind your ancestors!

Don't mind your ancestors!

Cultivate your virtue.

Always strive to be in harmony with Heaven's Mandate.

Seek for yourselves the many blessings,

Before Shang lost its army,

Its king were able to be the counterparts to the Lord on High.

In Shang you should see as in a mirror.

That the Great Mandate is not easy [to keep]

-from The Book of Odes, no. 235 "King Wen"

As this particular Ode shows us, there is a kind of exhortation made to the subjects of the king to shift one's mentality.  The practice and cultivation of moral virtue is now to be regarded as superior to appeals for aid made to one's ancestors.

If a person is a moral man, he need not fear for Tian is watching.

The Lord on High said to King Wen:

"I cherish your brilliant virtue,

Which makes no great display in sound or appearance,

Nor is changed with age.

Without any manipulation or deliberation,

You follow the principles of the Lord."

-from The Book of Odes, no. 241 "August"
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Final Thoughts on Tian in the Zhou Dynasty

Historically, credit for the compilation of the documents above is often awarded to the Duke of Zhou.  It should also be noted that the Duke of Zhou put down a rebellion early on as regent for his nephew.   The rebels were members of the House of Shang who put forward the notion that their kingship should be restored due to the special ancestral connection their line had to Shang-di.

The Duke of Zhou and the supporters of the House of Zhou delivered the counter-arguments which you have read.

In another passage from the Book of Documents, the Announcement of Duke Shao, it is explicitly said that "When Tian put an end to the mandate of the great state of Yin/Shang, the many wise former kings of Yin were residing in/with Tian."

The implication behind the phrase is thus:  Even one's departed ancestors, who would obviously have access to Tian in their afterlives, cannot save the dynasty from the literal wrath of Heaven.

Now I know what your thinking - "Aren't you belaboring a point about this Tian/Heaven thing?"    Well, aside from the fact that the ancient Zhou also brought up that point again and again (purposefully, think about it for a second - why would they have to do that?), a number of other segments of thought and culture will be altered by the acceptance of the idea. 

Mentally chew on the following:

1.) Religious Culture - The Zhou maintain that the "god" they worship is the same exact "Lord on High" that the Shang worship.   But whereas Shang-di was originally conceived as a kind of "first amongst spirits," Tian completely transcends all the other nature spirits, gods, and ancestors.

Its judgment is Supreme and Impartial.   Its relationship to mankind is felt through Tian's connection to kingship, as an institution.

2.) Ethics - So this super-power is concerned about the welfare for all mankind and is genuinely interested in the performance of virtue by man's rulers. 

A question can be immediately ask - How might we "measure" a ruler's virtue?

One method is the performance of ritual.   Not to Heaven, but to all the other ancestral and nature spirits that exist.   Many of these rituals involved sacrifices, feasts, and performances where the ruler was present acting in a manner that reaffirms his relationship to the realm of spirits.

 But ritual isn't just meant for spirits.   We as human beings enact rituals all the time with each other. 

I'll give you an example that is near-universal -  the handshake.   We shake hands as a greeting, to seal bargains, and to express thanks.   It is in effect, a social ritual.

Remember, Tian is very concerned with the moral ritual conditions of mankind - for ritual is a structure for relationships with other persons be they living or dead.

3,) Politics and the Big Question

So Tian seeks to uphold moral order where man should act properly toward each other, pay reverence to one's ancestors, and respect the forces of the natural world.

Yet we don't do that.


Two questions can be asked:   Why?  - As in Why does this Occur?
                                               How? - As in How do we get things back on track?

Bearing in mind what I said before, that the manner in which a person asks a question also shapes the answer, we should not that for the time being it is the "How?" aspect that becomes important to the ancient Chinese.

The answer that is quite critical for the rest of Chinese history:   Through an all-encompassing normative sociopolitical order.

 ie:  The State

This answer is already found implicitly within the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven.  The chain of logic being:

1.) Heaven (whether an active intelligence or an impersonal organizing principle) wants mankind to follow the rules which it emanates in an organic manner (unlike the Judaeo-Christian God who is essentially a legislator).

2.) Heaven looks upon mankind and sees starvation, famine, murder, etc.   Someone ain't doing their job correctly right?

3.) Heaven awards its Mandate to another person or household, allowing that group to come to power.

And now the most important part:

4.) Good men are made rulers, who can now go about achieving the normative or moral order.

Humanity, the State, and the Natural World are now in total accordance with one another.

Until the next playboy becomes king.  ;-)


The takeaway from all of this:  The most crucial task of the political order in Chinese history is the realization/actualization of man's ethical destiny.  







    

Ancient China: The House of Zhou and the Mandate of Heaven

If you were a Chinese peasant living in the Spring and Autumn era (771-446 BC), chances are you may have thought the world was ending.

For over 300 years, the House of Zhou had ruled the known world in a time of relative peace.  This period of relative harmony could not last forever, as the whispers of a court consort would percipitate an unparalleled event - the act of king-slaying by the Marquess of Shen, who allied with barbarians from beyond the borders to avenge his daughter's banishment by the Son of Heaven.  

Perhaps the Marquess simply sought to honor his household's name, however this act of fatherly vengeance would forever change the world.   The Son of Heaven and his family would be forced to move to a much smaller territory - one that could no longer support the the vast army units of the past that made the Zhou a ruling house. 

This was the beginning of the end, although it may have not looked that way to the Marquess of Shen at the time.  For although the Zhou King still maintained legal control over his empire, in practice the Zhou court often had to request help from the Great Families - the powerful rulers of the various vassal states that comprised the empire.

And so began the decay of the dynasty, for as the House of Zhou declined into further irrelevancy the empire began to split apart.   The area comprising the Yellow river basin fractured into hundreds of small autonomous regions  that found themselves at war with each other.

This slow rot of the dynasty would eventually lead to the much more violent period of Chinese history aptly named, the Warring States.  

But for our purposes, let's just take a step back and ponder - just what kind of society was the Zhou kingdom?   Why did its ancient past serve to inspire Confucius in his quest to restore the world?   And what ideas were held by its people about the natural world they inhabitated and the world beyond their senses?
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Political Legitimacy and Religious Thought: On the Mandate of Heaven

Having come from the outlying regions of the Western lands lorded over by the previous Shang Dynasty, the
Zhou were responsible for the fall of the last degenerate scion of a household that ruled over much of the Yellow River basin.

And that's where the problems begin.  

As I stated before in a previous blog, the major challenges faced by a society will have an effect of shaping the types of responses to different questions and problems that may arise in the future.
In the case of Chinese civilization, there has always been a massive preoccupation with the issues of political legitimacy and social order.

Although victorious on the battlefield, the Zhou ruling house faced a grave question of legitimacy.  After all, even with the backing of the commoners, the Zhou king had just committed regicide.   How could this act of "betrayal" be sanctioned?

The Answer was simple:  The righteousness of their actions was sanctioned by Heaven.

"Heaven" is the word often used to translate the Chinese word "Tian."    It is a very good approximation for the concept in certain respects, but using the word "Heaven" carries cultural baggage.   For our Western readers, you might happen to associate the word with a Place or with the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic afterlife.  

My suggestion?  If possible, drop all those associations.  And if you find that difficult, just use the Chinese word, "Tian."

So..what the heck is "Heaven/Tian?"  The Sky?  A Natural Force?   God?

In truth, throughout Chinese history, its all of the above. 

What is important for us to recognize though, is how the Zhou utilized Tian as a religious and political concept.  This might best be done by contrasting the Shang and Zhou's religious inclinations.

The Shang worshipped "Shang-di," The Lord on High.  Often speculated by modern histories to having been some sort of deified ancestor, Shangdi is the supreme anthropomorphic deity of the Shang culture's religion.   Anthropomorphic is just a big fancy technical term that basically means "invested with human characteristics."

In other words, Shang-di can be interacted with in the manner that a person might speak to another person.  Granted of course, Shang-di is a god, or rather The God but the sentiment expressed is that Shang-di is approachable.  He sends blessings and calamities, granted victory in battle, gave blessings to specific undertakings, and looked after the welfare of his chosen community and in his earthly relatives in particular.

Contrast this with the way that the Zhou understand the Supreme Power.   According to the Zhou, Tian = Shang-di.  They made an explicit appeal to those tribes and peoples subjugated by the Shang that they, the Zhou, worshipped the same exact deity.

Except that the Shang had misunderstood the true nature of things.

Tian is not just the God of the Zhou or Shang.  Tian cannot be bound to any particular royal lineage, tribe, or nation.  Most importantly, Heaven's will does not coincide with the fortunes of a family or dynasty.  If a ruling household cannot live up to a universal standard of morality, ethics, and proper ritual behavior - Heaven will abandon that family and pass its Mandate to some other worthy one.

It is that concept, the Mandate of Heaven, that becomes a critical religious and political concept right to the end of the last Chinese dynasty in the early twentieth century.   You lose the Mandate, you Lose China.  You gain the Mandate, you Gain China. 

Sit back and think for a second just how revolutionary the Zhou's concept of the world is during the time they live in.  

That a dead ancestor should look after his or her descendants would seem quite obvious to the ancient Chinese.   These ancestral spirits may even look the other way when it comes to certain actions that the prevading culture might deem inappropriate. 

But an impartial force that reacts to a ruler based on his actions which are compared against an objective standard of morality?  That is quite different.

That development places Morality above the obvious particularistic interests of a group or tribe or clan.   It also places Morality within the context of Nature.  

In other words, Man must strive to act Moral because the Universe is Moral.

Waking Mars or Biology in Sppppaaaccceee!!!

Speculations about the possibility of life on the Red Planet has persisted for centuries, attracting minds as diverse as noted 19th century British scientist and philosopher William Whewell (who theorized about lands, seas, and lifeforms on the planet) to celebrated American pulp fiction writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (whose series "John Carter of Mars" remains a classic of science fiction.  Oh and incidentally - he invented Tarzan as well.)

And of course, who can forget War of the Worlds?

Whether its little green men in circular ships, heroic human-like warriors living in a pre-industrial world, or micro-organisms buried beneath that distinctive red soil - man has often dreamt of finding life on Mars.

And now we have, on this little app game that is.

Waking Mars offers a rather distinct experience to its player.  In an industry often dominated by action/adventure first person shooters, this little app game stands out for one simple reason: Discovery.

The whole premise of Waking Mars rests on a chance discovery by 2 members of a scientific expedition to the Red Planet.   Dr. Liang Qi (pictured above) a biologist from Earth along with his colleague Amani (depicted above on the left) have encountered a new lifeform extraterrestrial in origin.

Trapped beneath the caverns of Mars armed with nothing but a jetpack and his sharp mind, Liang finds himself re-cultivating a dormant eco-system in order to uncover the secrets buried beneath.

I know what your thinking, how can "cosmic gardening" amount to any kind of fun?

The challenge lays in the fact that the player, like Liang Qi, has absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about the lifeforms prior to encountering them.  Researching the creatures and plant life discovered is a large aspect of the game as is understanding how they interact with each other.

The designers over at TigerStyle Games put a lot of effort into simulating an actual eco-system.  Some lifeforms, collectively called Zoa, have a symbiotic relationship.  Others can be quite predatory and may even attack Liang Qi.  It is by experimenting with these combinations and observing the Zoa's interactions amongst themselves that a player begins to slip into the mindset of both scientist and explorer.

Oh yes, and of course there are those rather compelling "ancient secrets beneath the sands" bits....

 
So if you prefer a bit of the "old school" science fiction, where speculative thoughts about the universe bump up against real science and outright fantasy, gave this game a whirl.  It won't disappoint.

Krebiozen, Cancer, and the Power of Thought

In 1957 a cancer patient, hereafter known as "Mr. Wright," was hospitalized in Long Beach, California.  The man was riddled with tumors the "size of oranges" and on his death bed.  

Mr. Wright was made aware of a new wonder drug, Krebiozen (a serum derived from horses, pictured above in tablet form.  Formal name: 1-methyl-2-amino-imidazol-4-one.  Chemical structured provided below), which was marketed as being a possible cure for all types of cancer.

His physician, Dr. Phillip West, eventually relented to his continued requests to receive the drug as the patient literally had "nothing to lose."   Having been injected on a Friday morning, Dr. West would return to check up on his patient the following Monday only to be astonished by what he saw.

His patient, the one on his "death bed," was up and about joking with hospital staff as if there was nothing wrong.  His orange-sized tumors apparently had melted away.

A few months later, Mr. Wright would go onto to read a report in his local newspaper that Krebiozen was in fact an ineffective remedy.  The patient would go onto to suffer an almost immediate relapse of previous symptoms.  

Upon seeing his patient again, Dr. West convinced Mr. Wright he had access to a "super-refined double strength" version of Krebiozen.  Within a few days, Dr. West's patient made a full recovery and would go on to be the picture of good health until a fateful morning when Mr. Wright read a definitive report showing that Krebiozen had no effect on cancer whatsoever.

He died two days later.

As for the "super-refined double strength" version of the drug?   Dr. West would later go onto reveal that it had been nothing of the sort - only sterile water.

The App Game even an Epidemiologist would Love

Public Health has entered into the realm of pop culture in the past few years, driven forward by thoughts of the End.

As in the last Curtain Call, the Great Big Omega to the Beginning Alpha, that final stick of half-melted KitKat in that worn out Plastic Wrapper that is Life...

Meh, you get the picture.

Much of the "apocalyptic mood," if I may call it that has been obviously brought on by a combination of factors: A previous era of high economic growth followed by a world-wide recession, the advent of Islamic Terrorism and its decade-long effects on the Western world, oh and that 2012 Mayan Calendar End-of-The-World scenario.

Suffice it to say, it has made the public at large quite receptive to the genre of "Zombie Apocalypse" movies.  But it has also helped produce a number of fictional works that cleave closer to the reality of viral pandemics such as Steven Soderbergh's 2011 movie Contagion.

And now the latest entertainment entry comes from an small App game available for the IPhone and Android dubbed Plague, Inc.

Plague, Inc., is a real-time strategy game and brain-child of developer James Vaughan at Ndemic Creations that places the player in the roll of an infectious agent - Bacteria, Virus, Parasite, Fungus, Prion....Artificially Engineered BioWeapon, etc.

Your goal is simple, transmit yourself to the world's population and proceed to eliminate the human race in one gigantic pandemic.  

What makes the game particularly interesting to me is its limited application of epidemiological concepts for infectious diseases.   The three overall characteristics of your infectious agent are quite familiar: infectivity (how easy is it to transmit), severity (symptoms), and lethality (how deadly is it).  

The player is forced to strategize about the starting location, the mode of transmission, and the symptoms of the disease.  

Most of the world's nations are in fact represented on the map, each with unique characteristics regarding the type of public health responses they can mount against an epidemic.  For instance, it is much easier for your infectious agent to spread for instance in a place like South Africa or India than say Norway or Germany.  Climate, economic status, and major modes of transportation can limit the means by which your virus can spread.

Speaking of transmission, the player is also encouraged to develop a plan on how his or her infectious agent can be spread.  Options are quite typical - Birds, Mosquitoes, Rats, Livestock, and water/airborn options exist.

Finally, there is the "mix-and-match" symptom tree which allows you to customize your specific apocalypse.  You can copy the characteristics of well-known diseases such as H1N1 and SARS, or develop your own little combination.  A popular one i've heard of is Insanity mixed with Dysentery which causes much of afflicted population to start defecating in the streets.

Of course, your little imaginary world won't take this abuse lying down.  Like the Scientist in the Cinematic Trailer above (and yes for those who have played Deus Ex: Human Revolution, that is talented voice actor Elias Toufexis), you face an army of doctors, scientists, and public health specialists seeking to limit your spread and searching for that cure to put you down.

A constant news feed lets you know what the little humans are up to - whether they've caught onto the fact your virus exists, if they've started to try and stamp out your methods of transmission by say spraying for mosquitoes or killing birds, or if they've decided to close their nation's borders to protect their citizens.

Oh - and you kind of know your winning if the various world governments have decided to lift all bans on human experimentation in search for the Cure or.....started to isolate and execute the infected.


Now do I find it slightly Ironic that I am now using all that epidemiological knowledge accumulated in my brain to topple humanity's dominion of the Earth?   Sure.

Is it still fun? - You bet.    I encourage all to give this little simulator a shot.

Modern Science, Metaphysics, and Medicine: A Framework for Thought

No person living in this era of history can deny the overwhelming importance of science and technology to our daily lives.   The most recent technological revolution of the late 20th and early 21st centuries has ushered in a period of mass communication and information.   With cellphones, Blackberries, laptops, and the IPhone a human being can remain "plugged-in" 24/7 to the ever present flux of news, YouTube videos, Facebook Updates, Tweets, and yes even the occasional blog post.

This is our world - an environment shaped by the creative application of the physical laws of reality.   What we buy, watch, read, and eat are more often than not the products of our learning, the outcomes of our artificial interference with the cycles of nature.


For those who subscribe to the idea that time is merely the record of man's March of Progress, the scientific and technological revolutions would seem to imply that non-scientific forms of knowledge can and will eventually be dismissed as mere ignorance.  

As the last century has shown us, nothing could be further from the truth.

Parallel to the rise of scientific innovation has been a blossoming of spirituality and religious participation, an increasing distrust of scientific institutions as tools of corporate/military/political groups, and an ever growing interest in alternative systems of thought.  

It is that last bit I'd like to focus on.  The category may sound a little vague - precisely because it covers a vast field of activity such as feng shui, qigong, yoga, meditation, divination, reincarnation, and of course traditional medical systems.

Many of these practices have their foundations in what we could properly call metaphysical ideas.

This is where the "trouble" begins, as some would claim these foundational concepts are nothing but the remnants of outdated proto-scientific learning at best or foolish superstition at worst.  Supporters and enthusiasts on the other extreme of the spectrum might counter that these metaphysical truths are the building blocks of non-Western scientific thought.  Therefore, the practices cited above should be considered as comparable or complementary (or even superior!) to procedures derived from Western science. 


Instead of uncritically dismissing or accepting either viewpoint, I would like to propose a different sort of action.   Namely, a more nuanced examination of this issue - one that properly defines just what exactly is being compared and what claims are being made.

Of special interest in this endeavor will be an examination of the field of medicine across different cultures. 

Medicine holds a very special place in my heart,  It is one of the few human activities where the theoretical understanding of nature is joined with the most practical goals of human experience - longevity and happiness!

In many ways, the discipline of medicine extends beyond the boundaries of the natural sciences.  The goals of medicine are directly tied to each patient's own cognition as to what constitutes a good quality of life.  These particular worldviews are furthermore informed by diverse influences such as philosophy, spirituality, politics, and socioecnomic factors. 


Whew - that's all a big mouthful.  To put this in a more condensed form:

1.) Medicine is a critical discipline because it deals directly with one's most personal possession: your Body - the thing you use to experience the rest of the world.

2.) Although medicine's procedures are well rooted in modern biology and chemistry, the practice "on the ground" must usually take into account a lot of other pieces of data that are outside of the natural sciences.

These are usually defined as the social determinants of health - the economic, behavioral, and cultural factors which effect a population's health status.

ie:  The Context of Human Life.

Given the unique intersection where Medicine sits in our everyday lives, I do intend to focus on its activities more than say astronomy or metallurgy in this blog's examination of science and culture.

Gentle reader, I do hope you enjoy and stick around for the ride!

Crisis Brings Inspiration

...He sits by the river, surrounded by his friends and students, as they discuss the events of their home state.   The greed and power of the three aristocratic families had laid the great ducal house low.  Their avarice was repaid in turn by a rebellion from a nefarious retainer, which plunged his country into war.

And when the dust settled, here he now was in self-imposed exile away from the land of his birth.   Despite his wisdom, he had wandered through all the great states with little to show for it.

The world was collapsing as the drumbeat of war could be heard in every land.   

Although nurtured by his convictions, the Great Teacher could not help but wonder - What indeed was the Way?  And who would restore All Under Heaven?

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Concentrate...concentrate... the ritual was everything.

The formulas must be recited properly, the chants must be sung, the mantras must be uttered.

With the correct performance of the sacrifice, as flesh and flowers burnt within the sacred fire, the universe would conform to the will of the sacrificer.  

At least that was people used to believe.   Now, a new set of wise men had arisen, ones who disdained the worldly benefit the priestly caste offered through their sacrifices.  

These men, who intimately knew the procedures and the formulas, spoke of another reality.   The hidden meanings and connections of ritual actions to the universe and to the life of a man were laid bared to them.

No amount of wealth, women, and sons would ever free a man from the endless cycle of death and rebirth.   Only wisdom can bring deliverance.....

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The old man now stood before the assembled jurors of his polis, his home city, who had the power of life and death in their hands.

Those who condemned him spoke of the man's corruption of the youth, his relationship with the hated Thirty Tyrants who had been an enemy of democracy, and the introduction of foreign gods that would undermine the social fabric of his cty.

He was a gadfly of the marketplace, the incessant interrogator whose constant questioning revealed the ignorance of all.

As the Oracle had foretold, the old stonecutter was the wisest of all men - for he understood his lack of wisdom as well as others' pretensions to knowledge.   

And for this unwanted revelation....he would have to die.

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Crisis is a Wellspring for new Ideas.   Or to put it another way, Crisis creates a situation where old behaviors and thoughts must be re-examined to overcome a problem.

The three scenarios above speak of periods of Crisis, not just for an individual, but for a society as a whole.

The established Order of the world in each situation is falling apart.  Traditional methods and deeply held assumptions are unable to resolve the growing discontent.

And here, in these moments of Crisis, do we see the birth of Philosophy and all her children - from political organization, the natural sciences, art, and literature.

Yet, there is one thing that must be recognized - All of these Crises that afflicted the 3 societies are not the same.

China, India, and the ancient Greeks all faced different Challenges......  

1.) In Ancient China, the accelerating decay of the Zhou Dynasty brought about a political crisis.  Relationships that seemed natural and ordained by Heaven itself were now thrown into chaos.

This provoked the Question:  Where is the Way?   

Where is the Way by which the Empire and All Under Heaven might be restored?  How might this be accomplished?



2.) The later Vedic era of India saw a growing discontent amongst the lower castes over the emphasis placed by the brahmins, the priestly class, on their traditional rituals.   Geared toward "this-worldly" benefits such as the acquisition of wealth, sons, and the destruction of enemies, the Vedic rituals gave little answer or comfort to those who sought a deeper meaning to life.

This religious crisis provoked the Question: What is the Self?

Who or what is this Self which thinks, loves, hates, and dies?  And what is this Self's relationship to the Universe?  What is our Final Destination?

3.)  As the youngest of the Mediterranean civilizations, the ancient Greeks found themselves exposed to a variety of different explanations for the creation of the world.  The Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and many others all had their religious beliefs - which often conflicted.

Undaunted by these circumstances, the denizens of Greece began to examine their world directly, seeking to understand the fundamental substance that was the basis for all reality.

However, it was the unjust death of a simple stonecutter from Athens that sparked the expansion of this inquiry to all activities of life.

This moral crisis provoked the question of: What is Being?

 What is the arche, the source or root of all things that exist?   How do our Ideas exist?  Do they have an independent reality of their own?

These Questions would fundamentally shape the approach and modus operandi of each civilization in their examination of the human, natural, and spiritual worlds for centuries to come.